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Thoughts on the Championships

We’ve arrived. It’s now totally baseball season and I couldn’t be more bummed about it. To be honest, I didn’t really follow the NBA or the NHL this year until the playoffs, but now that they’re done, I wish I had. I tried watching the Cubs last night and found myself so frustrated that I turned the game off in the 2nd inning. This team just doesn’t know how to play championship baseball. It’s to the point now that I actually wonder if we will end up more futile than the Pirates and the Royals. It’s certainly turning into a distinct possibility. So, with that being said, I’d like to give my thoughts on two champions.

The Miami Heat

You’ve got to admit, it’s kind of nice seeing Shaq get himself a championship without the help of crybaby Kobe. I’ve never liked Kobe Bryant and I’ve always liked Shaq so for me, it was cool to see Shaq sort of validate his superstardom by winning one without Kobe. Granted, he did have the help of the best player in the game today, Dwyane Wade. After the Heat went down 2 games to 0, I really thought they were done. But, they came back to Miami, swept all three and then finished it in Dallas. It was an impressive run for them and I don’t think the Mavs know what hit them. There are two sub stories that I would like to rant about though.

1)Why is the 2-3-2 format of home games still in effect? To me, this is the most unfair format for scheduling ever. When you have home court advantage, you should have played more home games as of every odd numbered game during the series. For example, under the current format Dallas, who had home court advantage, after 1 game had played more home games. As of game 3, Dallas had still played more home games by a margin of 2-1. As of game 5, because of the 3 straight games played by Miami, the Heat had played more home games by a margin of 3-2. That means, that even though Dallas protected their home floor as of game 2, they still found themselves trailing in the series and on the brink of elimination as of game 6 when they return home. That is not fair. This schedule system needs to be changed. I don’t hear many people complaining about it, but I think it needs to be addressed and I am glad baseball doesn’t use it.

2. What do you do with Mark Cuban? I like Mark Cuban. He’s a passionate owner who makes things happen. However, when you go and trash the league you’re in by calling it fixed, you’ve gone too far. I understand that he was fined $250,000 but it really can’t be allowed to continue.

Jay Marriotti wrote a column about three weeks ago mentioning that Cubes was interested in buying the Cubs if they ever came up for sale. I’m torn on how to feel about this. On one hand, it would be nice to have an owner that was passionate about winning AND treating the fans right, but on the other hand, we can’t have a guy bashing baseball in ownership can we? Remember Marge Schott? I guess I’d sacrifice bad publicity for consistent winning baseball at this point. It’s gotten to that point.

The Carolina Hurricanes

This team annoys me. They play hard, they play together as a team, and they get the job done. Annoying, right? Wrong!!! What is annoying about this team is their fans. In case you don’t remember, I live in North Carolina. 15 minutes from Raleigh to be exact. This is college sports country and everyone knows it. People don’t care about Pro sports here. That is until this year. It has been incredibly annoying to watch thousands of fair weather fans crawl out from under their rocks to suddenly become a die hard Canes fans. Caniacs as they call themselves. Nothing is more annoying to me than a fair weather fan that professes to be a die hard fan. I hated it when the Cubs were winning in 2003 and I hated it when the Sox won in 2005. It’s annoying. Pick a team and stick with them, win or lose. So enjoy your Stanley Cup North Carolinians because next year your team will be back to mediocrity and you’ll once again litter the sports air waves with talk of Carolina basketball in the middle of June. If nothing else, you could always cheer for your basketball team. Who is it again?

Cub News Anyone?

Kerry Wood does not appear likely to start on Sunday as had been previously rumored. I look for Wood to start later next week, perhaps Thursday or Friday

The Yankees are interested in trading for Jacque Jones to help fill a void in their outfield. They have had injuries to Sheffield and Matsui and could use a healthy body in the field. ~ New York Daily News

Derrek Lee is close to returning and has taken batting practice. Hooray, now we can make our run at the championship, right Dusty?